Watch senior Shannie MacKenzie
hound the opposition's top scoring threat and it is clear she has the physical
tools to be a top defender.

But listen to the Dartmouth
women's lacrosse tri-captain and it quickly becomes obvious that those physical
tools are only part of what made her a first-team All-America last year.

"I really like the idea of
protecting my teammates and protecting the field," said MacKenzie, who anchored
the nation's fifth-ranked defense a year ago. "Even playing pick-up games with
friends growing up I always liked being in the back, being the last person
between the attack and the goal. It's just sort of where I feel most
comfortable. I like the pressure.

"I've played against some of
the best attackers in the country and they are some of the most confident
people you will meet but there's a certain point when you've got them. It
doesn't always happen, but there's no greater feeling in the world than when an
attacker stops coming at you and starts shying away. Intimidating the attack is
definitely a big part of my game and why I like playing sports. To get in the
other team's head."

"Shannie is incredibly quick and strong and fast," said Patton. "She has the athletic traits that you look for in a defender, but the thing that I think really separates good defenders from great defenders is that edge and Shannie definitely has it. It's somehting you can't really teach."

MacKenzie and her teammates
have been doing a pretty fair job of that this spring, winning eight of their
first 10 games and ranking seventh of 92 teams nationally in scoring defense in
front of freshman goalie Kristen Giovanniello.

That MacKenzie is spearheading
such a stifling defense would have come as no surprise to Maureen O'Shea, her late
mentor growing up in Greenwich, Conn., and one of the reasons she ended up
playing college lacrosse and doing it at Dartmouth.

"She coached me since I was in
first grade and started playing lacrosse," MacKenzie said. "She was my
Connecticut Lacrosse Futures coach all through high school. I still remember
the day that she sat me down and told me, 'If you want to play lacrosse in
college you can do it.' That was the first time somebody exhibited that belief
in me.

"She came up with me my first
visit here and drove me out to the Columbia-Dartmouth game my senior year after
I had committed. She was a great lady."

O'Shea, who died of cancer in
March of 2010, knew her stuff. She knew MacKenzie could play at the college
game's highest level and MacKenzie will be ever grateful that she opened her
eyes to Dartmouth.

"I looked at most of the Ivies
but I knew I wanted to go to a non-city school," MacKenzie said. "I felt
strongly that I only had four years to be at college and I wanted it to be a
true college experience and not blend with what would come after, which I
envision being in the city in my 20s.

"I loved the coaches and the
campus but what really put Dartmouth over the top was speaking with the alumni.
I realized in talking with the alumni that it wasn't going to be a four-year
experience but something I carried with me my entire life. Something I took
pride in to the very end. That really is the mindset of the Dartmouth alumni.
You can't find one who isn't still wishing they were back here. It's just a really
special feeling to know that you will always be a part of that family however
many years out of college you are."

Not that she needs more
motivation, but the tie to those who came before her provides extra incentive
for MacKenzie. Dartmouth finished an uncharacteristic 7-9 overall and fifth in
the Ivy League her freshman year. That improved to 8-8 and third in the Ivy as
a sophomore and to 11-5 and second last spring. With four consecutive Ivy
League wins to start this season MacKenzie is hopeful the Big Green can reclaim
the top spot in the Ivy League and return to the NCAA's for the first time
since 2006 when it played Northwestern in the national championship game.

""I feel that the 2010 class
really deserved to win the championship and get a ring," she said. "I would
like to be a part of bringing the championship back home to Dartmouth after a
pretty long hiatus. The best thing is I don't feel alone in that sense of
urgency to get this done. My six classmates share that determination and sense
of urgency to get it done."

MacKenzie, who interned for the
Royal Bank of Canada in New York City last summer, will go to work for the RBC
after graduation. When she does she will put to work lessons learned not just
in Dartmouth classrooms but also on Ivy League lacrosse fields.

"The head of the desk I worked
on was an athlete at Northwestern and he is a huge believer that the
characteristics you develop and the things you learn in sports carry on," she
said. "His main takeaway is that there are a lot of smart and really successful
people at these jobs and a lot of them don't know what it's like to fail and to
lose.

"As an athlete you know what
it's like and you know how to rebound. You can't let failing scar you for the
next 'X' amount of years. You give it that 10 minutes or two hours of thought
and then you bounce back."

Which is exactly what MacKenzie
has helped the Dartmouth women's lacrosse program do.